It’s More Than Coexisting

Reflection 2: Under Our Skin

“What do we mean when we talk about race?“

The Seattle Times did a project about five years ago titled Under Our Skin. The project had grown out of conversations about how the Seattle Times cover race at time when national and local events dominate the headlines. The goal of this project was to invite these conversations that can often times be uncomfortable, but extremely important and necessary.

When first interacting with this project, I was initially drawn to the section towards the bottom which was titled “Meet the Participants“. This may be because I’m someone who is drawn to community and building relationships, I felt compelled to learn about those who were involved in the project. I began to learn about the participants and hear their stories, as they made themselves vulnerable and shared aspects of their identity.

After learning about those involved with the project, I then began to click on the different terms that were under the section titled “Choose a Term“. I went in order and listened to each participant give a definition of the term in their own understanding and describe their experiences, thoughts, and feelings about the term. I was a bit shocked to hear one older white man confirm that he had been a racist in the past, but was on his way to recovering and educating himself. His truth-fullness behind his statement was shocking since that isn’t normally something one would admit, but it was clear he was actively trying to change his old mindset and behaviors and do better.

This project and the stories the participants have shared really hits close to home for me because it’s something so important in my life. I was raised with the notion that community and relationships are one of the most important things we have in this lifetime. Seeing these participants come together to discuss, share, connect, and learn with/from one another was something really powerful to me and it’s something that is so important for us as a society to do together.

The Under Our Skin project is so relevant and important to us right now because we are seeing things in the media, in real time, happening that make connections to all of these topics. As said in the title, Under Our Skin, this project goes to show that we are much more than our external appearance. We are what is under our skin. Our character, our values, our relationships, our personality, our dreams, our goals, our lifestyles, our souls. I think to better understand these things, we need to address our differences and the diversity of the human race and embrace it. Celebrate it. Because we all are beautifully, uniquely, and wonderfully made.